Furnace.



W. P. BROWN.

FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I2, 1915.

Patented May 30,1916.

DEEE:

WILLIAM P. BROWN. or LONDON, oNTARIo, CANADA.

FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 30, 1916.

Application inea April 12, 1915. serial No. 20,728.

T 0 @ZZ whom i?? may concern y Be it known that I, `WILLIAM P. BROWN, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, and resident of the city of London, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnaces, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in furnaces of all descriptions, and the object is to provide means for burning certain of the products of combustion which usually escape inthe form of flue gases.

A further object is to provide means for supplying additional oxygen to the fire for the purpose of preventing in some measure the escape of combustible gases to a region beyond the fire.

It is well known that in the combustion of fuel, the two principal gases formed are carbon monoxid and carbon dioxid, the former of which is readily combinable with oxygen, that is to say, combustible, while the latter is not combinable with oxygen and is therefore incombus'tible, and furthermore, cannot by any ordina-ry means be decomposed to yield a combustible gas. The monoxid is a lighter gas than the dioxid, and therefore readily separates from the dioxid. IVith these facts in mind, the device forming the subject of this invention has been produced, and comprises essentially means for separatingy the carbon monoxid and carbon dioxid in a furnace and collecting the monoxid, which is then discharged with sufficient oxygen for combustion into the Zone of incandescent gases immediately above the re, so that combination of theA monoxid and oxygen takes place with an evolution of heat. The same means may be proportioned to discharge into the iire considerable oxygen in excess of that required to consume the collected monoxid, so that combustion of the fuel is carried on more perfectly than usual and the production of carbon monoxid in a measure prevented.

In the drawings which illustrate the invention, and show its application to a steam boiler furnace -Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a. flue or fire tube boiler furnace. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a water tube boiler furnace. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3, Fig. 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 11 designates a boiler of the flue or yfire tube type, mounted above a furnace l2 having the usual ash pit 13 through which air enters for combustion of the fuel. The ame and gases pass rearwardly under the boiler through a combustion chamber 14 and return *forwardly through the boiler flues 15 to the smoke box 16, and thence to the smoke stack 17. At the rear end of the boiler is the usual passage 18 connecting the combustion chamber with the rear ends of the boiler flues. In the present invention, this chamber is somewhat enlarged and extended upwardly a suitable distance above the uppermost row of flues to form a separating chamber 19, which is provided with a domed 'or arched top 20. Flues 21 of refractory material are formed along the sides ofthe combustion chamber and furnace, extending from the y'rear of the boiler setting, where they y are open to the atmosphere, to the front of the furnace. Throughout the length of the furnace, these flues are provided with ducts 22 arranged to direct fluid jets ltrans'v'fersely across the furnace above the fuel. A pipe 23 leads from the uppermost part of the separating chamber and extends downwardly and enters each flue 21,

the pipe being turned forwardly and continued within the flue for a suitable distance. The pipe is sufficiently smaller than the bore of the iiue t0 leave an annular space 24 between the tube andflue walls for the passage of air, entering the ,open end of the flue. A damper 25 is provided in the smoke stack.

The only diderence between the structures shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are the diiferences incident to the furnaces themselves, and not to the present invention. In the furnace of a water tube boiler, the stack outlet, designated 17a, is at the rear. The separating chamber 19 is in the same position as previously described, that is, above the outlet path of the gases. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular dimension and disposition of this separating chamber, providing the same is located above the outlet to the stack.

The operation of the device may be easily understood if it is borne in mind that the combustible carbon monoxid is lighter than the incombustible carbon dioxid, and will therefore rise to the highest point of the furnace, which in the present invention is the separating chamber 19, while the heavier carbon dioxid follows the line of chimney draft and escapes from the furnace. The

carbon monoxid thus collected is led through the pipes 23 into the ues 2l, where 1t 1s mixed with air and discharged into thefur-` through the pipe 23 is insured by the Chim# ney draft. Air flow through the ash pitl into the furnace is considerably restricted by reason ofthe layer of fuel on the grates, whereas the iiow of air through the flue 2l and ducts 22 is entirely free. This iow of air through the restricted annular passage 24 creates a strong suction in the pipe 23, which combined with the 'upward pressure of the hot gases in the bottom of the chamber 19, carries the gas down through the pipe'23 into the flue 2l. It will be noted that this invention is dependent entirely upon the chimney draft for its operation. and not upon anv artificially produced air currents. monoxid will always be lin proportion to the chimnevdraft and the condition of the fire Ywithout necessitating constant adjustment,as would be the case with an artificially produced air circulation. It will also be seen that this free draft through the fluey 21Ywill greatly reduce the draft through the grates, so that the 'furnace becomes essentially a surface burner, so that the breaking up and distillation of a large Dart of thel fuel at each firing is to a great extent prevented. Carbon monoxid will inevitably be formed, but instead of being carriednup the smoke stack. this gas is separated from the incombustible dioxid and returnedy to the furnace, where it is burned with a great evolution of heat. The flame and aircurtain above the fuel thus formed has the effect of burning a large proportion of the small carbon particles which give the color to smoke.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Washington, D. C. v

Therefore, the flow of air and,

' Experiments have proven that -a furnace equipped with this invention and with the ash pit/doors closed and flue damper nearly closed, will give better resultsV and show a remarkable increase of Vefliciency over the same furnace, without the invention but with Y maximum 'draft through the ash pit.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited tothe particular type of boiler or other furnaces shown, butmay be t applied tov any typeof furnace. the essential features being a free suction of air intowthe Y sides ofthe furnace bv the' chimneyT draft,y inducing a supply of the/combustible pro ducts of combustion collected in a chamberV above the furnace outlet to the chimney. Y.

I claim is:-

In combination 1n a furnace having a- Having thus described myinvention, what grate, a smoke outlet. a. fire box, a gas col' lecting and separating chamber locatedl within the furnace ata pointV higher than the smoke outlet and out of and above the direct line of draft from the fire box 'to the l,

smoke opening, said chamber being so posi-A `tioned above said koutlet that -the lighter gases of combustion will risertherein .and Y c densities will separate naturallyvandmeans stagnate whereupon 'the gases ofrdifferent for conducting the lightestgas back to the d vided withropenings kcommunicating with and encircled thereby.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set` i my hand, in the presence of two witnesses.L WILLIAM P. BROWN. Witnesses:

' S. R. W. ALLEN,

G. M. MonnLAND.

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